Despite ultimately enduring defeat, Seattle lost a lead, gave up three consecutive goals, then scored twice to tie the game in under six minutes Thursday to ensure the Winnipeg Jets wouldn’t keep their perfect record intact without a fight. Quantifying competitiveness is difficult, but forcing the league’s sole remaining undefeated team to overtime as the Kraken did bodes well for building resiliency.
Gritty efforts like these over their 2-2-1 homestand– seen also versus the Calgary Flames– were uncommon last season, wherein success was limited to idyllic circumstances.
Seattle entered the third period tied or trailing 52 times but allowed the majority of goals against (82) during the final twenty minutes, with eight of those games resulting in wins. Of their 13 comeback victories, none overcame anything greater than a single-goal deficit, and most were achieved in the first forty minutes. Opponents opened the scoring in 26 of their 35 losses.
Digging out of offensive holes and extending leads is challenging wielding the 9.11 SH% (29th) Seattle did then, making promising improvements in the procedure and product of their attack today of even greater importance. Total goals scored are up from 20 to 27 in nine games compared to last season thanks to a 10.55 SH% (19th) somewhat outperforming their league-average shot quality share (47.75%, 22nd).
Passing is still far from dynamic, attacking consistency could be better net-front, and chemistry is still being formed. Dan Bylsma shuffled forward combinations ahead of the Jets game and Saturday’s 4-1 loss to the Carolina Hurricanes. But between the locker room’s reiteration of depth as its strength– every skater except Josh Mahura has at least a point– and Seattle’s renewed ability to stay competitive by scoring in challenging game situations, it’s clear the offense is a realistic means to winning ends.
Down a goal– and then two– during the third period versus the Jets, Bylsma said the team “didn’t waver at all with the mindset that we were planning on scoring at least one in that third period.” And then they scored two.
So why are they sitting at 4-4-1 on the season? It all comes down to momentum.
‘Deflation goals,’ loosely defined as those allowed by a team during vulnerable moments of the game, like during an unrewarded upswing in attacking pressure or bookending periods, can undermine otherwise decisive offensive efforts. They’re a mental setback with game-defining consequences.
Last season, opponents notched a response goal 11 times after the Kraken scored a game-tying or go-ahead goal, with eight of those games resulting in losses. Seattle lost 22 of 29 games in which opponents scored either the opening or closing minute of at least one period, excluding empty-netters.
Over nine games so far, the Kraken allowed one goal in the opening minute of a period, four in the closing minute, and one goal 43 seconds after tying the game. And, they’re seeing a new trend emerge: allowing goals in quick succession. St Louis notched three-straight in two minutes in the home opener (loss), Dallas two-straight in 13 seconds two games later (loss), and Philadelphia two-straight in 2:13 two games after that (win).
“I think that’s where we can get better as a team is identifying those momentum points and using them and turning them into our favor. I don’t think there’s a difference between a goal in the first minute or a goal in the last minute. It’s just part of the 60 minutes,” Bylsma said this week. “The other team is allowed to have success in the game, too.”
Obstacles are inevitable, Bylsma pointed out Saturday morning. A team’s response can’t be dictated by their frustration at the circumstances they’re dealt, and that’s the irrepressibility he hopes to drill into his team.
“Two quick goals from the opposition and there may be a tendency to sag in our mindset, in our focus. That’s something we continually have to work to get better on as a team is to control those momentum swings, grab a hold of them, create them. But also, when things don’t go your way, we gotta do a good job of continuing to play the next play and getting momentum back in our favor.”